Former Ako Bicol Party-list Representative Zaldy Co and former House Speaker and Leyte 1st District Representative Martin Romualdez will be invited in the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee’s next public hearing on the flood control project controversy.

Senate President Pro Tempore and Blue Ribbon Committee chairman Panfilo “Ping” Lacson disclosed this on Tuesday, September 30.

Lacson said the invitation the panel will extend to both House lawmakers should debunk perceptions that the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee is targeting, favoring or even “protecting” some personalities supposedly involved in the flood control mess.

“For the next hearing of the committee, we will send an invitation letter to his (Co’s) address. Now we know he is abroad and will not show up. If that is the case, we will issue a subpoena, and then a show-cause order,” said Lacson in an interview on NET25.

“We are not covering up for anyone here…If the show-cause order is not satisfactory, we will cite him in contempt of the committee and issue a warrant for his arrest,” the senator added.

In the case of Romualdez, the invitation will be coursed through House Speaker Faustino Dy III, “in observation of the time-honored inter-parliamentary courtesy between the two houses of Congress,” Lacson said.

Asked when the next Senate hearing on the flood control mess will be, Lacson said the committee is waiting for some developments in the case before scheduling the next probe.

Lacson also assured that the committee will continue its hearings for as long as there are new major developments that it needs to look into.

The veteran lawmaker thumbed down suggestions for the Senate to stop its own probe on the issue, saying that doing so “may reinforce the perception, rightly or wrongly that we are covering up for someone.”

“No. I said it clearly, we will go where the evidence leads us,” he said adding that while it hurts to see some of his colleagues implicated in the mess, he cannot stop the resource persons concerned from testifying.

“I will not be distracted by the noise that I am partial, that I am covering up for or targeting someone. My guiding principle is to go where the evidence leads me, and to do the right thing,” Lacson added.

“Nobody is being targeted. Neither will anyone be shielded or spared. No matter how unpopular, even painful for me to hear the names of my colleagues being implicated by resource persons, I will not be deterred,” he stressed.

He also said changes in the Independent Commission for Infrastructure (ICI) will not affect the Blue Ribbon Committee's hearings.

This after former Philippine National Police (PNP) chief Rodolfo Azurin replaced Baguio City Mayor Benjamin Magalong as adviser after the latter resigned.

Lacson said that while he is saddened that Magalong resigned as an adviser to the ICI because of his potential contributions through his institutional knowledge, he is excited that Azurin will get a chance to contribute as well.

“Generals Azurin and Magalong worked directly under me when I headed the PNP. I know their work ethic, integrity, and work experience,” he said.